There are so many things that we are juggling with parenting. If this is you then this episode might be just what you’re looking for because if we’re so busy trying to keep all the plates spinning we may not realize that we don’t actually need all the plates spinning.

There might be another way.

As usual in this episodes I want to challenge you to think deeply about your family and see if small changes will make big impacts in the family atmosphere and the way our families run.

We rotate our mattresses, our clothes from one season to another, the tyres ( not a typo it’s how we write it in the UK honest!) on our car because we know that it’s better when we do.

What things do we not rotate in our homes in our walk with family?

I’m excited to share three areas that perhaps you’ve not considered rotating before but I hope you do after having a listen. That first night of sleep after flipping that mattress is bliss imagine how things might be with a parenting rotation.

During this episode we talk about three things we don’t rotate in our parenting but maybe we should along with some ideas about how to do it.

Leave a comment below or on a voicemail

01.02  First  thing we don’t rotate in our parenting but maybe we should and what you can do right now?

16.53  Second thing we don’t rotate in our parenting but maybe we should and what you can do right now?

22.13  Third  thing we don’t rotate in our parenting but maybe we should  and what you can do right now?

Raising Playful Tots – the podcast for parents who want to make the most of their playtime and enjoy simple parenting

Click the play button above and let’s get some ideas

Show notes

Small steps to an easier morning exit

WHAT TO DO NEXT:

So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now:

How to listen and subscribe to this show

I’d love to hear from you about the show.

Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail

Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven

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If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the time to share it with friends and leave a review for it on iTunes or Stitcher.

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Character Conversation Cards are available in two formats: task cards (pdf) and an audio file.

The audio file is a downloadable .mp3 file of the 25 conversation task cards read with a special effect to signal when to stop the audio to answer questions.

This set is all about developing habits,goal setting, unity and cooperation and is the Audio version.

Note: Audio bundles have the music note and Audio and do not contain the the pdf version.  

Developing habits, goal setting, unity and cooperation Character Conversation Audio

Choose the audio version if

1.  you want to have character conversations on the go with your 6- 13 year old children.
2.  you want to be one step removed and someone else is reading the situation.
3. you want to use this at a listening station, on a family journey or to make a change.

Get these Character Conversation Cards for $5

Each pack is different.

Within this audio:

• 10 situations on developing habits
• 10 situations on goal setting
• 5 situations on unity and cooperation

Each card had a short real life situation and different questions afterwards to encourage longer answers and especially, “What would you do?”

Listen to the situation and activate voice commands to play, pause and stop to give time for discussion for a hands free session. There’s an audible pause and time to pause the recording to respond if you prefer to use the buttons.

Listen on your phone and download to your tablet for easy on the go use.

Download the audio of the 25 character conversation situations  on Developing habits, goal setting, unity and cooperation  as one bundled audio.

Buy this bundle using paypal $5

To help foster communication there’s no answer key as answers will depend upon your values.

*Older children may enjoy debating ideas and there’s  opportunity to rest on many sides of an issue and work through the thinking to the end. E.g. If I do it this way, this will happen, then this etc.

Want to know what the audio sounds like?

Listen here

Can I have the pdf version of this Character Conversations Set?

Developing habits, goal setting, unity and cooperation character conversation task cards pdf $3

What other cards and audio character conversations are there?

See the full view here

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Families should gather together over a meal. Yeah yeah yeah! We’ve heard that before. Tried it before and it didn’t really work out.

This week we we focus less on the why and more on the how we create a meal ritual so that family times run smoothly. ( For the family and us!)

Leave a comment below or on a voicemail

Raising Playful Tots – the podcast for parents who want to make the most of their playtime and enjoy simple parenting

Click the play button above and let’s get some ideas

Show notes

00:01 Introduction

4 steps to a smoother family meal times now everyone is together.

2:45  Not just family dinner but other mealtimes

3:14  When you start a ritual early

4:04 Brand new to a a family ritual

4:29  Quick 5 reasons why you need a family meal ritual ( if you need to convince others or remind yourself on those days!)

7:46 How family meal time changes and what we might do for our family at this time

10:15 FIRST step to a smoother family meal times

11:42 SECOND step to a smoother family meal times

14:57 THIRD step to a smoother family meal times

17:12 FOURTH step to a smoother family meal times

RESOURCE: Prayer sticks

Discussion about family meal rituals

WHAT TO DO NEXT:

So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now:

How to listen and subscribe to this show

I’d love to hear from you about the show.

Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail

Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven

**Pin and Share **

If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the time to share it with friends and leave a review for it on iTunes or Stitcher.

The post Start your family meal ritual appeared first on Growing Nimble Families.

As school age kids mature they bump up against a few truths.

They are not perfect or the best. There are others who are better.

They have to work harder at some things than others and it doesn’t seem fair that others find it easier.

Feelings are hurt. They question themselves. They wonder, ‘I used to be good- great- amazing. What happened?’

“I can’t do this? I’m embarrassed to ask?’

‘What do you mean I missed the deadline? It’s not that late. No one told me it was important! It’s not my fault! ‘

‘ That was humiliating! They were way better than me. I thought I was good? I’m not going again.’

‘ I’m not doing it. I don’t want to. I don’t care.’

But if families want to raise emotionally healthy kids there needs to be a careful navigation of the messages, support, guidelines kids receive so they feel confident and ready to move through the teen years and into young adulthood.

This episode we talk about the messages kids get in the first 10 years of their life that give them freedom, warmth, nurture, unconditional love and if this is all they receive they might just become entitled teens and adults with unrealistic expectations with negative self-talk or lack motivation.

However, there are an awesome set of second messages that kids really need to know that give them wings to fly, confidence to get up again, the courage to thrive and seek out solutions. I’m excited about sharing this episode as it’s a mindset shift and super easy to do.

This growing up thing is tricky to navigate for parents and kids. Let’s do this together!

Growing Nimble Families podcast encourages the celebration of school age kids traveling through middle childhood

Show Notes

00:00 Introduction to raising emotionally healthy kids

03:55 Beginning to see things differently

05:29 See things from their perspective

06:34 Transition from this seems easy to some. Some of this is really hard and I can’t do it! What do I do?

07:11 Dr Tim Elmore childhood and adolescent messages

12:42  Making those decisions isn’t as easy they think

15:37 Talking about thinking ahead and putting off instant gratification

16:53  The special lessons that they learn through these second messages including how to help.

23:10 Practical ways to put the second messages into action

Resources for Awesome Emotionally Healthy Kids:

Contributions

Where do I start teaching our laundry system to the kids?

4 words that will change your contributions and chores forever

Contributions are better than Chores

Redistribution of contributions

Three things we don’t rotate in our parenting but maybe we should

Why the chores in your family are not working and some solutions

Grit

TED talks for parents – Grit

When they make mistakes and fail-practical ways to help parents and children learn how to navigate this undertalked about topic during childhood

7 Family Habits worth building and How to

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance 

Better connection during the school age years

WHAT TO DO NEXT:

So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now:

How to listen and subscribe to this show

I’d love to hear from you about the show.

Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail

Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven

If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the time to share it with friends and leave a review for it on iTunes or Stitcher.

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The post Awesome Emotionally Healthy Kids appeared first on Growing Nimble Families.

Who doesn’t love sleep?

When I cut my sleep time I know what will happen and often we assume the same thing will happen to our children. We’ll just be a little blurry and we just have to get through it! Brain science is telling us differently now. Children with sleep loss have very different effects than adults. It’s surprising how differently sleep loss is to a child and teen than it is to an adult. We’re not talking about babies and sleep but elementary and older children.  So much happens when we sleep, if only they knew maybe they’d sleep more.

During this episode we talk about how children and adults lack of sleep is very different to each other and how we can support our family to have better sleep and why this is crucial for the well being of ourselves and the family.

What’s the struggle you’re having around sleep with elementary and older children?

What simple things have worked in your family to get the right amounts of sleep time?

Leave a comment below or on a voicemail

00.40 The case for adult and children sleep times being different and the impact it has on the children.

Now we know what do we do?

07.55  First way we can support our children with sleep

11.56  Second way we can support our children and a good phrase to use

13.50 Third way we can support our children as a family with sleep

17.08  Fourth way we can support our children and sleep by getting the facts and applying them with our family in mind

19.26 Fifth way we can positively support our children with good sleep habits starts with family atmosphere

Raising Playful Tots – the podcast for parents who want to make the most of their playtime and enjoy simple parenting

Click the play button above and let’s get some ideas

Show notes

Excellent book that challenges commonly held assumptions with science.

NurtureShock:: Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

Hear Ashley Merryman’s episode on Praise

WHAT TO DO NEXT:

So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now:

How to listen and subscribe to this show

I’d love to hear from you about the show.

Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail

Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven

New to Podcasts?

If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the time to share it with friends and leave a review for it on iTunes or Stitcher.

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The post Why losing sleep is a big deal for kids appeared first on Growing Nimble Families.

Summer is coming!

What memories do you have of childhood? Often they are around summer. If you want to create lasting memories why not try some simple family traditions. Every season is a good opportunity to have special traditions just for that season. Summer is no different.

There are lots of traditions to choose from and you can’t do them all. But when you find you few then it’s awesome. Everyone looks forward to them.

Listen into this episode to hear some ideas for  simple summer traditions for the family.

Leave a comment below or on a voicemail

Raising Playful Tots – the podcast for parents who want to make the most of their playtime and enjoy simple parenting

Click the play button above and let’s get some ideas

Show notes

Reading challenge- instagram photo

Overhauling reading when they read just one type of book

service activities podcast

Extremely Good Parenting Podcast

Distilled Parenting Podcast

WHAT TO DO NEXT:

So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now:

How to listen and subscribe to this show

I’d love to hear from you about the show.

Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail

Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven

**Pin and Share **

If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the time to share it with friends and leave a review for it on iTunes or Stitcher.

The post Simple Summer Traditions for Families appeared first on Growing Nimble Families.

Do you get stuck in the loop of nag, complain, wait, nag, complain and wait? We know that learning from our mistakes and failures makes us a better person but it is so so hard to see our children heading for a fall or when failure is just visible.  Parents usual are quick to jump in and rescue. Shouldn’t we rescue? Isn’t that part of our role?

As children get older some seem more resilient when they make mistakes and brush them off. Others have parents who manage their children’s lives to avoid the chance to make mistakes and failure to happen. ( Don’t we all at one time or another! But there is another way

Whatever type of parent you are you know that seeing your children hurt is a trigger yet you know that some mistakes and failure have had an enormous impact in your life.

You just need the right types of failures and mistakes in the right atmosphere for the parents and the children  to learn, grow and navigate this under-talked about topic of mistakes and failure in a world where there’s a lot of shame around not being the same as everyone else.

Listen into this episode to hear some ideas about how you can support your children for now as they make mistakes and fail so that they can continue to take risks and succeed both now and as they grow older.

Leave a comment below or on a voicemail

Raising Playful Tots – the podcast for parents who want to make the most of their playtime and enjoy simple parenting

Click the play button above and let’s get some ideas

Show notes

00:01 Introduction to risk taking and making mistakes

Big parent battle: shame around making mistakes +shame of parents

8:09 What do you do after you fail that’s good for children?

11:45 What do you tell the children about failure (when sharing your personal story)?  Three questions

14:15 How do you slowly show children what to do after they have a result?

15:58 What happens when children say, ‘I dunno!’ and say they don’t have any ideas to give?

16:26 Dealing with our shame and their shame over results and the things we can do to support the situation now and be proactive for next time?

17:02 Reviewing after a result

Study: European American and Chinese parents’ responses to children’s success and failure: Implications for children’s responses.

17:45 Preview as an effective way to start conversations, curiosity and thinking

19:34 Children feel like failures in a classroom at the beginning of new topics and how we can change it.

21: 57  Near miss – a story of how to learn and do better for next time

26: 23  Who else can they turn to if we don’t have the right words?

27:07   The perfect place to work from failure ( There are lots of opportunities to fail and do better)

29:44 Encouraging progress, effort and motivation vs focus on end result only

30:38 Steps to handing off the homework to our children

Resource: Seven steps to feedback heaven

38:30 When you see the mistake in your child’s work what can you do instead of just correcting it yourself?

43:17 How you build resilience, perseverance and reset from failure in your child

47:51 Preparing now for the next stage without limiting their future

Resource: Labels limit learning

Resource: Encourage mistakes

 Books mentioned in this episode

WHAT TO DO NEXT:

So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now:

How to listen and subscribe to this show

I’d love to hear from you about the show.

Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail

Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven

**Pin and Share **

If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the time to share it with friends and leave a review for it on iTunes or Stitcher.

The post When they make mistakes and fail-practical ways to help parents and children learn how to navigate this undertalked about topic during childhood appeared first on Growing Nimble Families.

Anyone else experiencing a new normal with the kids? Things are different. There’s more of things happening that didn’t use to happen like arguments or talking back. You know it’s part of growing up but this doesn’t seem like the kids you know.

Where has my child gone?

This episode is all about how to be comfortable in this transition. Honor who they were, are and going to be and without losing your mind. Encouragement to establish new baselines and figure a way for more autonomy to happen.

Growing Nimble Families podcast encourages the celebration of school age kids traveling through middle childhood

Show Notes

00:00 Introduction +Transitioning rites of passage for parents

Where has my child gone?

6:25 Prompts to remind us of the passing of time

9:36 Affirming our children

12:10 Unconditional love and how they see love vs what we show them

12:55 Keep talking activities suitable for school age kids

14:50 We need rites of passage reminders because there are things we want to pass on to them

18:56 When we’re present we can share how to recover and be resilient

Resources: After the encouragement comes action. Rituals to help us as parents move from little kid to bigger kid to teen. Here’s what you can do colour edition || Black and White edition

WHAT TO DO NEXT:

So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now:

How to listen and subscribe to this show

I’d love to hear from you about the show.

Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail

Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven

If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the time to share it with friends and leave a review for it on iTunes or Stitcher.

**Pin and Share**

The post Getting on with the changing school age kid without losing your mind appeared first on Growing Nimble Families.

This episode we are looking for the good in the stage we are in.

We love to look back and remember fondly especially when times are tough in our current stage. If you’ve ever been stuck looking back and worrying about the future this is the episode for you to see how to move positively forward with your school age kid.

Rituals help us move along and enjoy the stage we are at. Being positive with the things we are doing and going to be doing helps us see our kids struggles and keeps us on track. We get them ready and we get ourselves ready for it.  Rituals help us with the transitions as parents move from little kid to bigger kid to teen.

Growing Nimble Families podcast encourages the celebration of school age kids traveling through middle childhood

Show Notes

00:00 Introduction

03:58  Positive ways of separating from our child and attaching in more mature ways

19:50 New framework for seeing their kid, child, tween, teen and young adult

Resources: 7 habits of Highly Effective Teens positive way to talk about the future, planning, goal setting.

Straight talk for kids  Peer to peer conversations for the kids on motivation, involvement, frustrations, how to get better results with your parents, homework and relationships like positive ways to deal with brother/sisters. It’s another voice that says the same types of things you’ve likely been saying.

Pass It On: Building a Legacy of Faith for Your Children through Practical and Memorable Experiences Each grade level is covered with a special experience and passing of time activity. It’s a chance to celebrate positively the passing of time that honours the journey of childhood for the kids and us.

Painless study techniques short chapters and good for elementary and lower middle/secondary children especially if you can read it together. 

The organized student Reading this book before your child transitions to that new school is a good reminder of different ways to organize sheets, work, homework, binders, backpacks and lockers for school.

Not all the ideas work for your child but when they have struggles you’ve got some new ideas to try. This is great especially when your child has different organizational strategies than you!

WHAT TO DO NEXT:

So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now:

How to listen and subscribe to this show

I’d love to hear from you about the show.

Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail

Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven

If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the time to share it with friends and leave a review for it on iTunes or Stitcher.

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The post Rituals for Parents appeared first on Growing Nimble Families.

Did you know there are six scientifically better ways to study and prepare for tests and quizzes that will help kids learn?

As kids are starting back to school many are experiencing those words, ” Study for the test on Friday!” and coming home and reading through their work the night before ( morning of!) believing that this is a good way of studying. It’s generally the only study method they know at the beginning.

Parent’s edition of study skills at home

This is a Parent’s edition of how to study to support the studying and revising that happens at home.

We all get used to ways of studying and working that suit us. Our children may learn differently to us. Whether they are entering 3rd grade and beginning to have spelling tests and short quizzes and are looking to start out the study habit right or you are looking for some different solutions to a frustrated situation this episode has something for you.

We go through how to have good learning habits that avoid cramming ( as the only strategy- listen to find out why that’s not such a good idea!)

In this episode, Cindy Wooldridge from the Learning Scientists.org talks about the 6 learning strategies that work for school age kids to use to study better. This is a special parents edition. You may be thinking, Schools teach study skills so I don’t need to worry.  Maybe you don’t but children need the time to get comfortable with new skills.

They need time to practice.

They need time to master.

Mastery takes time and the school age years give ample time to gradually learn these skills before they plunge into multiple tests and prep.

Growing Nimble Families podcast encourages the celebration of school age kids traveling through middle childhood

Show Notes

• Encouragement for parents who are worried about how to help students learn/ study and start good habits
• What’s the best way to help our kids when they come home with those notes in the planner that says, “Study for the test on Tuesday”?

Resources: Spaced practice

• What would you teach first for learning strategies

Retrieval practice- “Having the problems and coming up with the answer for them or seeing the terms and coming up with the definitions themselves and then going back and checking their work.”

Resources: Retrieval practices that work

Spaced practice- “spacing out the study over time”

• Why did you choose these 6 strategies?
• What are the other 4 other study techniques and examples I could try?

1. Elaborate- “constantly asking why and how do you find out about this.”
2. Interleaving- “switching things up instead of always studying in the same order change/ or different subjects.”
3. Concrete examples- “coming up with real world examples for the material”
4. Dual Coding- “idea we tend to learn things better when we have a picture associated with it.”

• In one ear and out the other why cramming isn’t’ the answer over time if you want to retain and reuse the information

Do any of these work better with elementary students?

The case for letting kids find their best way to study and how we can guide them without taking over

Supporting school age kids to navigate the school systems to know grades, contact teachers, find information on the teacher’s webpage and learn how to make study timetables etc.

The hidden shame of studying and study skills

The struggle as a parent to let them try and when to intervene especially when you see things aren’t going well.

Ideas about how to start doing these study ideas age appropriately

The LearningScientists.org has lots of fantastic resources with videos and downloads.

Here are the posters I mentioned in the episode, and the bookmarks.

WHAT TO DO NEXT:

So you’ve listened to this episode – if you liked it and want to hear other ones – and I really think you will….you should do this right now:

How to listen and subscribe to this show

I’d love to hear from you about the show.

Any comments about the podcast use the Voicemail

Use the hashtag #creatingfamilyhaven

If you’ve enjoyed the show please take the time to share it with friends and leave a review for it on iTunes or Stitcher.

**Pin and Share**

The post How to completely change how school kids study for quizzes and tests appeared first on Growing Nimble Families.